Masculinity is a term culturally formed over thousands of years. “Boys will be boys”, “Boys don’t cry”. These sound harmless, yet these phrases infer all males should hide emotion, hide the way they feel, and hide who they are. We all know the ever-increasing figure that suicide is the biggest killer in men under 50, and we wonder why? In many cases, it can be this societal expectation that is to blame. Men feel they must fulfill this masculine role to be a man, and sometimes men inevitably cannot.

This bench acts as a physical metaphor that relays a message our society needs to hear… Gender roles aren’t healthy anymore; we need to teach the modern man it is okay to express the way they feel.

charliesedgwick.com